The Breakfast Club » Trivia (Movie)

As most people know, except Jay and Silent Bob (see Dogma (1999)), Shermer, Illinois is a fictitious suburb of Chicago in several John Hughes films such as this film, as well as Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Sixteen Candles (1984), Pretty in Pink (1986) and National Lampoon's Vacation (1983). But, the zip code that Brian states in the opening of the film, 60062, is to an actual town. It belongs to Northbrook, IL, a town about 30 miles north of Chicago.

Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy played high school students in this film, the same year that they would portray college graduates in St. Elmo's Fire (1985).

While eating lunch, Andrew (Emilio Estevez) takes his lunch out of a "Happy Foods" paper grocery bag. Happy Foods is an actual grocery store in the north/northwest suburbs of Chicago.

ohn Hughes (I)_ originally wanted "The Breakfast Club" to be a 2-1/2 hour movie. However, many of the scenes were cut out and the negatives destroyed. John Hughes says that he has the only complete copy of The Breakfast Club on film. Among the cut scenes from the movie (some filmed, some only written) are: -Carl predicts where the five kids will be in 30 years. Bender will have killed himself, Claire will have had "2 boob jobs and a face lift," Brian will have become very successful but die of a heart attack due to the stress of the high paying job. Allison will be a great poet but no one will care, and Andrew will marry a gorgeous airline stewardess who will become fat after having kids. -In a dream sequence, Allison imagines Andrew as a gluttonous Viking, Bender as a prisoner, Claire as a bride, Brian as an astronaut, and herself as a vampire. In an unfilmed alternative to this dream sequence, all five kids imagine random things, including cars, naked women, Godzilla, beer, and fighter planes, and these things end up filling the room until Vernon interrupts. -John Bender was not going to walk to school in the original script. He was going to be driven by his dad in a rusty tow truck, and have a brief fight with him before his dad drives off. Bender also tossed a bagged lunch, his father saying "You are a waste of lunchmeat!" -After Bender demonstrates "Life at Big Bri's house" Brian stops Bender and corrects him with a much more pessimistic version of the skit. Claire then proceeds to act out her life before asking Bender to demonstrate his version. Bender's routine changes as well here. After Bender mimics his mom, he stops, commenting that "then they make me work to pay off the dentist for the teeth HE busts." -The scene where Andrew and Allison are walking to get the sodas is extended to a point where Allison pulls out a pack of cigarettes and smokes one. -After getting the sodas, Bender shakes his can violently and places it among the five to see who gets the rigged one. Allison ends up getting it, and when she opens the can, all the soda squirts directly into her mouth. -After Vernon asks who has to use the lavatory, the five go to the bathroom. Vernon gives the boys 2 minutes and the girls 3 minutes. Claire catches Allison in a stall eating a bag of chips, repulsing her. Bender mocks Brian for sitting down to pee instead of using a urinal. -Several staff members were cut out of the script before filming. Dr. Lange, a social studies teacher who dresses oddly, and Robin, a gym teacher. Robin helps Vernon on a few workout machines until Vernon injures his back, and she eventually visits the students while they are in their circle in the library. Robin initially replaced many of Carl's scenes and Carl was originally set to be a minor character with only 2 scenes.

Before John Bender says: "Oh, shit - what are we supposed to do if we have to take a piss? ", he begins to hum a song while playing an air guitar. The song was "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Eric Clapton.

At the time of shooting, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were the only Breakfast Club members of high school age, both being 16. Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy both were 22, and Judd Nelson was 25.

The song which Judd Nelson hums the guitar riff to at the beginning of the movie is the opening tune to "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream.

# # When Bender is distracting Vernon while the others make their way back to the library, part of the song he sings is a few lines from "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors. The other part he sings while running down the hallway are lines from a US Military cadence: "I wanna be an Airborne Ranger"

At the beginning of the movie, there are some shots of the school building right before the kids show up for detention. Written on a wall is, "I don't like Mondays" which is referring to a girl named Brenda Spencer. Brenda's father gave her a rifle for Christmas when she was 16. Later, Brenda went over to an Elementary School across the street from her house and began to shoot anyone she saw there. She injured some students, and she killed the principal and custodian. When asked why she did it, she said, "I don't like Mondays". The incident also inspired the Boomtown Rats' hit "I Don't Like Mondays".

What they ate for lunch: Andy (Andrew): a bag of chips, chocolate cookies, three sandwiches, milk, a banana and an apple. Claire: sushi (rice, raw fish and seaweed). Allison: a sandwich with Pixie Stix and Cap'n Crunch cereal. John: nothing. Brian: soup, sandwich with peanut butter and jam and apple juice.

The switchblade used in the movie actually belonged to Judd Nelson. He explained that he had it for protection purposes.

# # Any hope of a sequel to "The Breakfast Club" was basically dashed due to the volatile relationship between John Hughes and Judd Nelson. John Hughes has stated that he would never work with Nelson again. Also, it is unclear whether or not Hughes still holds ill-will against his oft-cast starlet, Molly Ringwald. They had a falling out in the late eighties after Ringwald decided to move on from the teen film genre to pursue more adult roles, thus severing her relationship with Hughes.

Ranked at #1 for Entertaiment Weekly's 50 Best High School Movies (2006).

Shot entirely in sequence.

# # The David Bowie quote at the beginning of the movie is pulled from his song ‘Changes’. It can be found on the 1971 album, ‘Hunky Dory’.